Neuroi
Description The Neuroi are the primary antagonists of the Strike Witches. They are a belligerent alien race that appears every so often. They literally consume swaths of the earth to gain their power, Europe and Africa being the least affected continents. Since they derive much of their energy from consuming land, they can not travel over large bodies of water. They are generally modeled after experimental aircraft from the Second World War. Some exceptions are the Cube Neuroi and the X-11 (Neuroi Girl). History The Neuroi appeared sporadically throughout human history, but they never posed a serious threat until after the invention of the magic engine, a steam-powered device which amplified a witch's magic ability many times, and the resultant rise in magic usage. The first wave of Neuroi attacks culminated in the First Neuroi War, which lasted until 1917 and was a massive victory for the Neuroi, as humanity had not yet figured out a means to effectively fight against them and was forced to constantly retreat. It was eventually discovered that witches could block the Neuroi's miasma and beam attacks, allowing them to get close enough to Neuroi to potentially fight back. To complement witches in battle, the Striker Unit was developed by Dr. Miyafuji in 1935. It used a magic engine to enhance a witch's magical abilities, allowing them to fly and to carry weaponry that can otherwise only be mounted on vehicles. The new breed of witches, who flew with Striker Units instead of brooms, became known as Strike Witches. The first use of Strike Witches in battle was during the Fuso Sea Incident of 1937, in which an exploratory group of Neuroi approached Fuso. The battle was a large victory for the witches, and it helped bring such aces as Sakamoto Mio and Anabuki Tomoko to fame. Possibly as a result of their resounding defeat here, the Neuroi have not attacked Fuso since this incident. In 1939, the Neuroi launched an attack of unprecedented scale on mainland Europe. As the nations there had gotten used to peace, they were unprepared for the assault and began to fall one after another. Ostmark was hit first and fell quickly. Karlsland was able to hold out against the Neuroi for much longer, but they were still eventually forced to retreat, with their military scattered to the east and west. Gallia wasn't able to hold out much longer against a ground assault from the Neuroi, and the military forces there focused their efforts on evacuating as many people as possible to Brittania, which, as an island nation, was much more defensible against the Neuroi. At the same time, the Neuroi expanded into the east, conquering much of Orussia and expanding until the Suomus Misfits Squad was able to score some surprising victories and hold the line against the advancing Neuroi. The victories of this squadron inspired the formation of Joint Fighter Wings, which were comprised of witches from various nations working together, where they were able to bring varied technologies and skillsets together. The Neuroi expanded southwards into Afrika as well, although humanity found it much easier to defend the massive plains of this continent. The incredible visibility meant that the plains of Afrika were the one and only place where conventional artillery could outrange Neuroi weaponry, allowing Afrika to be defended by a much smaller complement of witches than other fronts of the battle. Eventually, the efforts of the witches, in particular the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, allowed humanity to regain territory it had lost to the Neuroi. The 501st was responsible for the destruction of the Neuroi hives over both Gallia and Romagna. Both of these hives were destroyed in part due to efforts to mimic Neuroi technology. In Gallia, the Warlock was designed using research performed on a recovered Neuroi core, but it was deployed before testing was completed and turned on humanity after attempting to control the Neuroi. When the Warlock's core was destroyed, its connection to the Neuroi in Gallia resulted in a chain reaction that destroyed all Neuroi in the airspace and liberated Gallia. Similarly, the hive over Romagna was attacked by the battleship Yamato after it had been "Neuroified." Although the Yamato was successfully able to destroy the hive, the aftermath saw the formation of a massive Neuroi core which was attached to the Yamato and Sakamoto Mio, using the latter's shields to protect itself from all attacks. The core was only able to be destroyed when Miyafuji Yoshika used up all of the magical ability within her body to perform the legendary Shin Reppuzan attack on the core. With the destruction of this core, all remaining Neuroi in Romagnan and Venezian airspace were destroyed. As of 1944, Neuroi hives remain over Egypt and Orussia, and Karlsland is still under Neuroi control. Neuroi presence elsewhere in the world is unknown, but the change in the landscape of continents between 1939 and 1944 suggests a Neuroi presence in the in-universe equivalents of northern South America, western Australia, China, and the Middle East. Types The Neuroi show great variety in their designs, and their models have evolved as the war has progressed. Their designs have typically progressed from small models that are employed en masse to fewer, larger models. With the exception of drones, all models of Neuroi have a single, critical weakpoint: their core, a red polyhedron whose size varies with the size of the Neuroi. If the core is destroyed, the entire Neuroi will be destroyed, along with any drones it has deployed and any other Neuroi under its control. The core is typically buried within the center of the Neuroi, although exceptions exist (such as one Neuroi which kept its core in a distant bug-like Neuroi). Neuroi surround their core with black armor that shows a hexagonal pattern. Certain patches of this armor are colored red, which signifies the location of the Neuroi's energy weapons. Drone A small Neuroi deployed in the defense of a larger Neuroi. Drones do not have cores of their own and cannot regenerate themselves. It is unknown whether destroyed drones can be regenerated by their parent Neuroi, but this has not been seen in combat. Large-type The standard flying class of Neuroi, and the most common type of Neuroi seen in the anime. A large-type Neuroi is comparable in size to a large aircraft at its smallest, but they can also be much larger. A single large-type Neuroi is capable of overpowering fleets of ships or multiple wings of conventional fighters. When possible, a wing of six or more witches is used to take down a large-type, although it is possible for a single witch to take down a large-type with sufficient skill or luck. Certain large-types are capable of deploying drones, typically by splitting their bodies into multiple parts. Ultra-large Unofficial name for unique models of Neuroi which are deployed for specific purposes. There is no apparent upper limit to the possible size of Neuroi, with one even manifesting as a 30 km-high tower. They still suffer the weakness of having a single core, which if destroyed will result in the destruction of the entire Neuroi, though it is usually much better defended. Ultra-large Neuroi are almost always able to deploy numerous drones in their defense. Heavy The ground-based counterpart to large-type Neuroi. Heavies typically resemble tanks, and although they are much more powerful than human tanks, it is possible to defeat them with conventional anti-tank measures. Tank Witches are the preferred countermeasure, followed by Strike Witches, as heavies are usually able to overwhelm most conventional forces once they are in range to use their weapons. In flat terrain where artillery can accurately shoot outside of their visible range, it is often possible for them to destroy heavies before the heavies are in range to counterattack. Ultra-heavy Extremely large ground-based Neuroi that are exceedingly difficult to destroy. They are virtually impossible to destroy with conventional weaponry, and even witches face much difficulty in destroying them. Witch-like Some Neuroi have taken forms resembling Strike Witches, in some cases even being modeled after individual witches. In these cases, the Neuroi are almost exactly as powerful as the witches they mimic. However, they lack the experience of witches and their capability for teamwork, so these Neuroi are no match for a wing of witches. Example of this type of Neuroi is the X-11 (aka Neuroi Girl). Smaller types (under construction) Category:Index